High Court orders Ariel adverts suspended

By John Muthoni

KENYA :The High Court in Nairobi has issued interim orders to stop Ariel advertisements from running in the media until the case against it is mentioned on November 11, with a view to confirming the case and issuing further orders.

However, Justice Jaqueline Kamau said the adverts on billboards will not be brought down on the effect of the orders.

“In the circumstances foregoing, I hereby issue interim injunctions restraining the first and second defendants by themselves, their servants, agents, employees or advertising agents from running, flighting or airing the Ariel One Wash campaign advertisements in their current form at all media houses and all forms of print or electronic media,” she said.

In her ruling on an application by Unilever Ltd’s counsel, Kamau Karuri, the judge said she had considered the company would suffer prejudice during the period she had allowed the lawyers of Procter & Gamble International Operations SA, Procter & Gamble Services Ltd and Scan Group Ltd to file their affidavits.

The grievance

In the same case, Scan Group lawyer Donald Kipkorir told the court his client was not the advertising agency for the Ariel product. This was faulted by Karuri.

Unilever had applied that “the adverts falsely and by implication depict their product Omo as being grossly incapable of removing stains in one wash,” and thus sought to stop the adverts until the court determined the same.

Unilever is aggrieved by Procter & Gamble’s prime time TV adverts that promote Ariel as the best stain-removing detergent compared to other products.